Exclusive: DePaul AD DeWayne Peevy on Tony Stubblefield’s future

DePaul athletic director DeWayne Peevy calls it his “hope bucket.”

And even though the school’s 2-8 men’s basketball team is continuing a painfully long tradition of feeble, under-the-radar struggles, the bucket of the administrator hired in 2020 to make the Blue Demons matter again isn’t empty.

“If you don’t have hope,” he said, “you’re wasting your time.”

But, he added, “I also know it’s not a strategy for the future.”

After nearly two decades of a bleak existence, the men’s program has glimmers of hope in the forms of a $60 million, four-story basketball practice facility planned to be built by 2026 and a modest, but growing, NIL budget that could put DePaul in play for recruits it simply wouldn’t have been able to vie for as recently as the last offseason.

Meanwhile, though, the losing just doesn’t stop.

“We’ve got to win more games and give more hope that next year — and the rest of this year — can be better,” Peevy said.

An interview with the Sun-Times in Peevy’s Sullivan Athletic Center office returned often to a joint theme: disappointment throughout a scanty fan base that third-year coach Tony Stubblefield is producing no better results than his unimpressive list of predecessors, and speculation that Peevy, who hired him in 2021, will fire him at season’s end — if not sooner — with two years left on his contract.

Peevy praised Stubblefield and the team for remaining positive and together despite losing to Purdue Fort Wayne, Long Beach State and Northern Illinois and scoring all of 46 points against Northwestern in their most recent defeat. As long as the vibe between coach and players remains healthy, Peevy said, Stubblefield will have a good chance to cross the season’s finish line.

“The stuff and the talk about the in-season stuff, that’s just irregular for me unless there are circumstances that bring that about,” he said. “I don’t see ourselves making a change in the middle of the season if we don’t have something irregular.”

After it ends, though, it clearly could be the time.

“There’s got to be a true return on this investment, or we’re going to make decisions,” Peevy said. “I’m not afraid of the decisions. I just don’t think we’re at a point right now where we should even be thinking about pulling the plug. Give these kids, give this staff, give Tony Stubblefield a chance to see where he can get this team. And if, at the end of the year, we’re evaluating things and we don’t feel like we’re going in the right direction going forward, then that’s when we’ll make a change.”

Stubblefield is 27-47 at DePaul. If there’s anything important that separates him from former coaches — Dave Leitao, Oliver Purnell, Jerry Wainwright — it’s difficult, maybe impossible, for any casual observer to see it. Stubblefield was one of 37 candidates interviewed by Peevy, who homed in on him because of his strength as a recruiter. Peevy still calls Stubblefield “unbelievable” in that area of the job.

“Those first two rosters had zero NIL, like none, but we were still able to compete,” Peevy said.

The Blue Demons started 9-1 and finished 15-16 in Stubblefield’s first season. They are 12-31 since.

“That’s what’s so hard now,” Peevy said, “because we’re not competing at the level now that I expect. … We’ve got really good players. We can do more with what we have right now. There’s no doubt.”

Peevy is emphasizing the need to “leave behind” the first 10 games of the season and focus on what’s left. It starts with a home game Saturday against Villanova, which DePaul upset last season. Then comes a game against Chicago State, which upset Northwestern last week. Peevy will be with the team for its first Big East road trip, with games against defending national champion UConn and the league’s back-to-back last-place finisher, Georgetown.

It’s a critical four-game stretch, given how eagerly Peevy discussed it.

“We need some hope right now,” he said. “We need the hope bucket for the fans.”

Fans who “will be all about Tony Stubblefield if we win,” according to his boss.

“The one thing I don’t want to see is fans rooting for us to lose just so they can get a change they want,” Peevy said. “That’s the only thing that bothers me. But they want a coaching change. That’s [the nature of] fans.”

Big picture: There will be “no success” at DePaul, in Peevy’s view, until it gets back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. He envisions it happening within the next couple of seasons.

Smaller picture: Even this team can and should, he insists, win its share of Big East games.

“I believe we have a turnaround in us,” he said. “And if I stop believing that, that’s when I’ll start looking at whether changes need to be made.”

Empty-bucket time, in other words.

“Results matter in this business,” he said. “We can have the greatest staff and the greatest kids, but at some point you have to change up and try something different.”

AP Top 25

1. Purdue, 2. Kansas, 3. Houston, 4. Arizona, 5. UConn, 6. Marquette, 7. Oklahoma, 8. Tennessee, 9. Kentucky, 10. Baylor, 11. North Carolina, 12. Creighton, 13. Illinois, 14. Florida Atlantic, 15. Gonzaga, 16. Colorado State, 17. BYU, 18. Clemson, 19. Texas, 20. James Madison, 21. Duke, 22. Virginia, 23. Memphis, 24. Wisconsin, 25. Ole Miss.

(Click here to see the poll in more complete list form.)

My ballot

1. Purdue, 2. Kansas, 3. UConn, 4. Arizona, 5. Houston, 6. Marquette, 7. Oklahoma, 8. Baylor, 9. Clemson, 10. Creighton, 11. Kentucky, 12. Tennessee, 13. North Carolina, 14. Illinois, 15. Florida Atlantic, 16. Colorado State, 17. BYU, 18. Ole Miss, 19. Texas, 20. Gonzaga, 21. Wisconsin, 22. Memphis, 23. Virginia, 24. James Madison, 25. Colorado.

(Click here and then on “all voters” to see each voter’s individual ballot.)